The Leaver's Dance
by LukeAndLorelai Brucas Fan
Summary: Snippets from the "ACWDYG" world. Mostly Luke centric somehow - when people left him and the people he cares about.
1. 1984

I think the only part I like about this is Luke's dad.

* * *

The relentless pounding on the door jolted him awake, and Luke Danes wondered how he could have fallen asleep when the sun was glaring directly into his window, practically eye-level. Then he glanced down at the book on his desk, and the reason became clear – calculus. He'd been trying to get his homework out of the way so he could spend the rest of the weekend helping his dad in the store, seeing as his sister couldn't do much more than administrative duties for the time being.

The knocking continued and Luke pushed his chair back, rubbing his eyes as he stumbled through the small house switching on a couple of lights as twilight descended. "I'm coming, I'm coming." He called out, reaching the front room and squinting at the foggy shape of the person on the other side of the glass.

"Lorelai?" he asked quietly, seeing his friend in tears on the front steps. "What's the matter? Are you ok?" he looked her over, but couldn't see anything physically wrong. And then a thought occurred. "Is the baby...?"

With a whimper Lorelai threw herself into Luke's arms and continued to cry into his shoulder. Somehow he managed to get her to the kitchen, then with great difficulty – she didn't seen to want to let go of him - into a chair, before handing her a glass of water which she accepted with shaking hands.

"You gotta tell me what's going on here I don't know how else I can help." He explained as she fought to catch her breathe before losing out to the hiccups. "Just... say something so I know that everything's ok."

"He's… gone..." she finally whispered and Luke had to strain his ears to understand.

"He... who? Who's gone?"

"Chris. He's gone."

"He's not gone." Luke replied without thinking. He couldn't think about the possibility that what she'd said was true. "You're having a baby together, he can't be gone. You must-"

"I went over to his house earlier to see him. Things have been weird since that freak show dinner and I wanted to talk about it, try and sort everything out. But when I got to his room..."

"Maybe he's just gone out of town for a couple of days," Luke suggested, hoping to hell that this jackass hadn't abandoned his friend in her time of need. "He had to go and there wasn't time to call you,"

"It all looked the same, mostly. Only a few things were missing. Just the things he really cares about. It wouldn't be obvious to anyone else, but he's gone. He's gone, I know it."

Sitting across the table from Lorelai, Luke felt his entire body fill with rage at the news that Christopher had done a runner. The two of them had never really gotten on very well in the year or so that they'd been 'friends', but this just... if it weren't for the fact that he had a very emotional pregnant friend to deal with he probably would have been able to run from one end of the country to the other until he tracked down the coward who did this and ripped his head off.

"I just, I know this is a lot to deal with, being pregnant, and agreeing to that stupid... Oh, God, I can't believe I agreed to let my mother organize that ceremony. It's only been a month, but if anyone can organize an unwanted civil ceremony in that time Emily Gilmore can do it."

"I wouldn't put it past her." Luke agreed and Lorelai sniffled.

"I'm not stupid, I know it's a lot, but he was so much happier about it than I was. Of all the people I would expect to run out on this wedding and baby deal, he was... Well he wasn't number one on the list."

"Who was?"

"Well... probably me, if it were possible to run away from my self, at least until the thing's out of me, just so I can continue drinking my coffee and eating whatever the hell that I want and I don't have to go through the torture that I hear labour is. But it's not, and I accepted that and I was dealing. But now…"

"You'll deal with this too, ok? You'll get through it we'll all be here for you. I promise you'll get through it."

"You know I think you may be the greatest friend anyone could have," Lorelai observed, reaching across the table to put her hand over Luke's. He'd managed to unclench his fists by now and felt less like he was going to bolt out the door.

"Well, you make it pretty easy. Some of the time anyway,"

"How am I going to do this? This baby needs a dad, I'm pretty sure that's why it takes two people to make a baby, because they're supposed to have two parents. I can't do-"

"I just told you that we'll be here for you – me, Sookie, your- Ok, maybe my parents, and yours can be the ones to pick up the bill. You're gonna be fine, both of you. Just trust me on that."

"Well, if you're absolutely certain..."

"I am." Luke nodded emphatically just as the back door opened and his mother came in carrying an armful of grocery bags. Luke jumped up from his seat and took them from her as she struggled through the door.

"Oh, thank you Luke." Anne said to her son as the load was removed and she was able to move freely. "Hi Lorelai, how's- Honey, have you been crying?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just..."

"Hormones, Mom, that's all."

"Are you sure? Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't think so, unless you want to fill in for me for the next couple of months?"

"Sorry, but if I were to do that for you, I'd probably have to do the same thing for Liz, and I highly doubt I could manage to carry two of those things at a time."

"That's ok, thanks anyway. I should probably be going."

"Don't rush off on my account."

"No, no, I'm not. I have a few things I have to do this afternoon, that's all. But I'll see you later. Thanks for the talk Luke."

"Sure, anytime." Lorelai smiled at him as she reached the door.

* * *

Lorelai sat on her bed, tears streaming down her face, and glanced around her room. The doll house her parents had given to her – still in the original glass – a few years earlier, stood in the corner of the room, and her coming out dress, the one she'd been wearing when the idea that she could possibly be pregnant and not just late (because she'd never been late before, not ever.) had first occurred to her, still hung on the inside of her wardrobe door. Why it hadn't been taken away at anytime in the last five weeks she couldn't say. (Had it really been such a short time since she'd nervously shown the pregnancy test to Sookie to check if they were seeing the same thing?)

Memories of the many cotillion practices that Lorelai had attended over the course of her life – usually with Christopher right by her side, snickering about how silly everyone but her looked in those dresses – filled her mind and she jumped off the bed, pulling the dress down roughly, the hanger clattering to the ground in the process.

"That bastard!" she screeched, throwing the dress across the room. "How could he do this?" she demanded, not anticipating an answer.

The talk with Luke had helped: he was usually pretty good at talking her down from the crazy places her emotions could take her. But still, knowing that Chris was gone and that he hadn't even tried to tell her what he was thinking, she just felt so cheated and that she had every right to be pissed with him for as long as she chose.

Swiping at a fresh batch of tears, and cursing the ridiculous rollercoaster of emotions that this pregnancy was putting her through, Lorelai gasped and pressed a hand to her abdomen as she felt the tiniest flutter.

Swallowing back any further tears she smiled, and lifted her shirt to get just a little closer to the baby.

"We'll be fine," she promised, keeping her index and middle finger against the spot where she felt the odd sensation. "We don't need him; we're going to be just fine."

* * *

Later that evening in Stars Hollow, Luke was in his father's hardware store, bashing his way around the store room as he prepared orders to be picked up in the morning.

"Lucas, what the hell are you doing in here?" William Danes demanded, poking his head through the door.

"Nothin'. I'm just working."

"You've never worked this noisily your entire life, what's going on?"

"I told you, it's nothing."

"Like hell. I know there's a lot going on at the moment, what with your sister and Lorelai and everything, but-"

"I don't want to talk about it, ok?"

"You don't want to talk about it?" William repeated.

"No. I don't."

"Well that's just too damn bad! Come here," he grabbed his son's shirt sleeve and began pulling him towards the stairs that led to his office. "Lizzie we'll be right back," he called over his shoulder, pushing Luke up the stairs.

Luke practically fell through the door, and landed in a heap on one of the chairs, set up around a small table that William usually ate his lunch at when he didn't have time to come home during the day.

"Now, you tell me what the hell's going on with you."

"I told you I don't-"

"Yeah, I know. You don't wanna talk, but I'm not giving you a choice here, so, come on, out with it. Your mother already told me that Lorelai was in tears this afternoon when she got home you, want to start with that?"

Luke was silent for a moment, glaring at the table top as he picked at the peeling surface. "I just don't think it's fair."

"What's not fair?"

"Everything! Lorelai, Liz, they're smart and they could have done just about anything, but instead, they'll be stuck at home, raising these babies. Jimmy's a total flake, and he'll probably be no help at all and Chris…"

"You're probably right about Jimmy, but you and Chris are friends aren't you?"

"We were, sort of,"

"What do you mean were? Did you have a falling out over all this?"

"Not exactly,"

"Well what then?"

"He left."

"He left?"

"Yep. He's gone. That's what Lorelai was crying about. She went to his place and he wasn't there. He didn't leave a note or anything, but she's sure that he's gone and he's not coming back."

Mister Danes didn't say anything for a while, but Luke had a pretty good idea of what he was thinking; those two girls had picked a real pair of winners in Christopher Hayden and Jimmy Mariano. Jimmy hadn't left Liz outright, but for the moment he too was gone, apparently off trying to find a well-paying job with which he could support his impending family.

Now with Chris… It was all just a mess.

"Well, what do her parents have to say about it?"

"I don't know if they even know yet, she didn't mention them really. I'm more concerned about her and the baby at the moment than Mister and Mrs. Gilmore."

"That's fair enough. You'll let her know that we're here for her, whatever she needs, won't you?"

"I already kind of did."

"Good. That's good. The last thing she needs is to be left at the mercy of her parents. Without the father around, they might try putting pressure on her when it comes closer to the baby being born. She's going to need you and Sookie a lot in the coming months."

"I'm not going anywhere," Luke replied defensively.

"I know that. And I'm glad that you have a good head on your shoulders. At least we got it right with one of you,"

"Dad, Liz isn't-"

"I know she's a good girl, I'm just mouthing off."

"Can I get back to work now?" Luke asked after a while.

"As long as you stop making such a racket; it sounded like there were a band of horses in there with you."

"Sure, I'll keep it down." Luke nodded and headed back down the stairs to finish off his last few jobs for the night.

* * *

Picking up the phone, he listened for a while to the dial tone, before finally punching in the number and waiting for someone to answer.

"Hello?" the woman that answered sounded anxious, almost terrified.

"Mom, I-"

"Christopher! Where are you? I'll send someone right away to come get you. I'll talk to your father and make sure he goes easy on you, just tell me where-"

"Mom, you can't send anyone to come get me. I'm not coming back."

"What do you mean you're not coming back? Of course you are! You've got your senior year coming up, and college, and Lorelai's-"

"Lorelai and I… That's not going to happen mom. And college isn't either. I'm sorry about this, but I can't do it. And I can't come home. I just wanted you to know that I'm ok."

"You can't come home? What is that supposed to mean? You and Lorelai have been together for two years Christopher! She is pregnant with your child; of course you're coming home."

Chris pulled the phone away from his ear and took a deep breath "You're not listening to me." He told her, "I can't be a husband or a father. Anyone else would do a better job than me, but I am definitely the wrong guy for that. Lorelai will be fine without me, I'm sure of it."

"I don't understand what you're telling me. This is your child, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then you have to be here, you have to be the one to help raise it. Emily and I already saw to the preparations for the ceremony, your father and Richard have everything planned for you once you go to work for them, it's all done. And there is a baby on the way that you need to be here for. You can't just run away."

Chris took the phone away from his ear and stared at it as he took another breathe. His mother was repeating herself again, still harping on about college and the wedding. He couldn't listen anymore, so he replaced the receiver and leaned against the wall of the phone booth.

If she knew that he was still in town and had spent the night sleeping on a bench she would probably kill him.

Which was why he was glad that his bus would be leaving in a few minutes.

He knew he was being cowardly, running like this without explaining anything. That phone call might as well not have happened, for all the listening that his mother did. The same would have happened if he'd called Emily Gilmore though, and he imagined Lorelai probably wouldn't feel like letting him speak too much had he called her either.

But as much as he knew Lorelai would hate him for this, and their child, when it was old enough to understand what he had done, he had to go. He wasn't ready for this responsibility. Lorelai had to know that. She'd even said herself that she wasn't so sure she could do it without their friends and family. Never once had she said she needed _him_, not in those exact words, just that she was glad for the support that she had. Which, he told himself now, didn't exactly include him. Because although he'd agreed to what his parents and her parents had planned out for them at that disastrous dinner last month, he'd still been scared out of his wits at the thought of bringing a baby home and taking care of it.

Running was the easiest way out that he could think of, since Lorelai had already informed the entire dinner party in a very forceful tone that she was going to have the baby, and she would be keeping it. Chris remembered that his father had suggested abortion, and Emily had abruptly informed him that wasn't an option. At least that was one thing Lorelai and her mother could agree on. Right after those words had come out of the older woman's mouth, Lorelai was down the stairs and yelling at the four adults assembled in the sitting room that she didn't need them to tell her how things were going to go, because she already had a plan.

In the end her plan had been brushed aside in favour of her father's – the-get-married-and-have-the-boy-work-in-my-company-plan.

But in the weeks that followed, it became clearer that the plan that had been laid out wouldn't work. Not really. Sure, it sounded good in theory, but he wasn't husband material, his mom had gotten one thing right that night – he was just a baby, he wasn't ready for this. Stepping out of the phone booth and pulling his ticket out of his pocket to check the details, Chris took one last look around before climbing aboard the waiting bus that would take him away from his home.

Maybe it would take a while for people to agree with him, but he was sure that no matter what else happened that child would definitely be better off without him around.

* * *

Woops. Almost wrote Jess at the end there, with the getting on the bus bit. Guess I've seen him do that too many times and it was just a reflex.


	2. 1986

The only sound filling the house was that of the crying toddler as the two exhausted teenagers stood, staring at one another, fighting to catch their breathe in the wake of the argument that had died out as the child's cries grew louder.

For a moment they stood, perfectly still, as if frozen, before Luke Danes finally broke away from the staring contest and crossed his room to pick up his girlfriend's daughter. As soon as she was enveloped in someone's arms Rory quietened down

Lorelai Gilmore scrubbed the heels of her hands against her eyes, trying to wake herself, as Luke continued to calm the child.

"We're gonna go," Lorelai announced, moving to gather some of Rory's things.

"But we weren't done-"

"Actually, I think we were." She cut him off, reaching for Rory, who began to shriek again as soon as she left Luke's grip. "Come on baby, let's go home," Lorelai whispered, trying to calm her.

"It's late; you really shouldn't be driving-"

"I'll be fine Luke, it's not that far. I just need to get Rory home. Besides, your dad will be home soon and the last thing he needs after a night out is to hear Rory screaming. Or you and I screaming at one another, for that matter." She took one last look around to make sure she hadn't left anything that Rory would need, and then turned, leaving the room without another word.

Luke stood staring blindly around his room, listening for the sound of Rory's cries as they grew quieter, moving further from the house, before being drowned out by a car engine and then all sounds disappeared, replaced by the intense quiet that took over Stars Hollow when the majority of the townspeople were asleep in bed.

He couldn't help wondering how his sister Liz's night was going, across town. She'd taken her son Jess and had gone to stay with her boyfriend Jimmy for the night, leaving the house empty for Luke, Lorelai and Rory, at least until their father came home.

Everyone had been tired lately due to the two kids seeming to encourage each other to stay awake as long as possible each night, driving their families insane. When they were together during the day, naps didn't last long, and at night when they were separated, well, the teens charged with taking care of the two children were convinced they were somehow psychically linked.

Tensions had also been running higher than usual as the first anniversary of Anne Danes' death had just passed. It had been a bittersweet year for her family – Luke graduated from Chilton alongside his best friend Sookie St. James and the mismatched family had also celebrated Jess and Rory's first birthdays in a joint party right between the dates they were actually born on.

As he sat on his bed, overcome with exhaustion, Luke remembered the many times he'd overheard teachers mention Lorelai's potential and how well they imagined she would do at college when the time came. She was very smart, she didn't go out of her way to make sure people knew about it, but most were aware anyway, which he was sure was part of the reason her father had been so disappointed when she announced she was having a baby.

While Lorelai had stayed in school as long as the school (and her mother) would allow, when she was pregnant, Liz had dropped out as soon as she could, claiming that she never had any plans to go to college, so there was no point pretending; her on/off boyfriend had done the same, deciding he would be better off getting a job in order to help out when the baby came.

The only problem with that was that when Jess was born, Jimmy disappeared. Temporarily, but still, it wasn't the best way for their family to start out.

Thinking of Jess's father didn't make Luke nearly as angry as thinking of Rory's did though. Any time the name Christopher Hayden came up in conversation or a memory surfaced from somewhere, Luke was filled with rage at the thought of what he had done.

It had been just a few months into Lorelai's pregnancy, their parents had practically just finished planning out her life as well as Chris' and the baby's when she discovered that Chris was gone

He ran away. From his responsibilities and his family, and causing Luke to make a silent pact that if he ever saw the dirt-bag again, he'd tear him limb from limb.

Chris had been the cause of a few arguments, but not this one. Truthfully Luke couldn't even remember how this one had begun, he was that tired. But he had a feeling that Lorelai had just been trying to start something, so she could have a reason to yell and get out things that were irritating and upsetting her, like how she'd been sitting in the audience at the graduation last May, instead of crossing the stage with her classmates and the fact that unlike most of her friends she hadn't been able to go off to college this year.

Luke had taken her to his prom of course; they'd been dating a couple of months at that point, and he figured even if they weren't he probably would have asked her anyway so she wouldn't have to miss that particular high school experience. She'd even dragged Sookie and Liz out shopping while Luke stayed home with the babies. She refused to show him the dress that she'd finally settled on, after three consecutive shopping trips however, claiming it was so fabulous he had to wait until the big night.

And it had been almost a year now since they'd gone out on their first date to the same restaurant that his parents visited each week, and his dad was currently at, alone.

He remembered thinking, the second day the girls were out shopping, and he was watching Rory, how much he already loved that little girl, and how one day, maybe, he'd be able to call her his daughter.

Knowing how early in the relationship it was, Luke hadn't allowed his thoughts to extend beyond that, to Lorelai, nor had he shared any of that with anyone else, but in the months that had passed, he'd admitted to himself as well as those who needed to know, that he did indeed love Lorelai Gilmore, and he saw a future for the three of them.

But there would be no such future if he didn't apologize (because his dad had explained to him when he was fifteen and living through a difficult week with his sister, mother and female friends all putting him through hell that, no matter what, he would always be to blame for everything and should apologize first, if he ever hoped to see the end of an argument) and make things right.

"I'll give her a call tomorrow," He decided, pulling his shirt up over his head and dropping back onto his bed. "Fix everything then."

* * *

Finally reaching her parents mansion in Hartford, Lorelai parked off to the side of the driveway and climbed out of the car that her father had leased for her when she had her baby, and walked around to the back passenger side door to pick up Rory.

With the sleeping child in her arms and diaper bag on her shoulder, Lorelai took a few steps up the driveway before stopping.

Instead of going in right away like she'd done so many times, she now stood, eying the place critically.

No one could ever look at the home that Richard and Emily Gilmore had created and say that it was lacking in luxury. But that didn't mean it was the best place for a child. On the contrary, Lorelai could remember many times in her childhood when she'd practically had to walk on eggshells so as not to damage the perfection of her mother's house. Maids came and went for the most ludicrous reasons, one woman was dismissed for returning a figurine to the wrong place after dusting, while another had been turned out after just a few hours, because Emily didn't like the amount of starch she used in a load of laundry.

Of course, she never went without what she needed, or, for the most part what she wanted, and Rory would always have that as well as long as her grandparents were around to try and please her but would she grow to resent this life the way that Lorelai did at times? The obligation to always play the part of the perfect daughter and granddaughter proving too much for her?

Neither of them had any control over which family they were born into, and it didn't seem fair that they be punished for not living up to the standards set out for them.

Rory began to stir and Lorelai became aware of the chill in the air. Shifting her daughter to the opposite hip, Lorelai bundled her a little tighter in a blanket and started for the door.

Many times in the past she'd come home later than expected and had to tiptoe through the halls so as not to wake her parents. There were times she could go days without even catching a glimpse of her father as he left the house so early and she'd usually be in Stars Hollow until dinner or later. As she reached her room, and put Rory down in her crib to sleep, Lorelai glanced over at the day planner on her desk, to check any events for the coming week.

Just the sight of the book reminded her that her and Luke's anniversary was coming up, which for the first time in over an hour put a smile on her face.

Checking that Rory was indeed asleep, Lorelai left the room to go and change in her bathroom. With so many thoughts swirling in her mind – thoughts of the fight that had seen her tear out of Stars Hollow like a bat out of hell, of Luke's parents, two of the kindest people she had ever known, and of the looming anniversary of Anne's death - she went about her routine as if on auto-pilot, before everything came to a screeching halt.

The toothpaste tube was empty, so she had to search through the cupboard under the sink for a new one, and that was when she saw the box of tampons.

Still unopened.

Abandoning her teeth in favor of disproving the thought that had just came to mind, she flew back through the hallway, and snatched up her day planner.

"Oh god…" she couldn't help but glance at her daughter as her fears were confirmed. "Oh no." she whispered, her finger on the page as she thought back to the box in the bathroom. With the dates clearly laid out in front of her, Lorelai realized that she should have opened that box two weeks ago, that she was very late and the last time she was this late, well, the result of that, lay just a few feet away, sleeping.

Before she knew what was happening, Lorelai was back in the car, driving as quietly as she could away from her childhood home and glancing over her shoulder to check Rory was still dozing, also catching sight of the bags she'd stuffed full of clothes and mementos.

Rory started to cry again as they reached the highway but this time Lorelai couldn't stop to calm her. "It's ok Baby!" she called to the back seat. "Everything's going to be ok. Mommy loves you; you're going to be alright." She drove on in the darkness, with no thoughts to where she was going.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, there was a voice encouraging Lorelai to go as fast as she could, to get out now, before she was left, again, with a fatherless child, again. She didn't want to, she knew how much Rory loved Luke, and how much he loved her, and how this would hurt all the other people she cared about; her parents, Luke's family, their friends, but even as she thought about pulling the car over and calling him to confess all, or just turning around and returning home, not saying a word, she knew that she couldn't do it.

_I am not going to let that happen to me again,_ she told herself. _I can do this. I don't need any of them to help me. I'll be fine._

"We'll be fine," she said out loud, glancing in the rear-vision mirror.

* * *

He'd been in the back room of his father's hardware store when the call came.

Knowing that both Liz and their dad William were in the store, Luke continued with the inventory. It was only when he heard his father raise his voice that Luke decided he should go investigate.

Liz couldn't tell him anything when he asked what was wrong, and then the phone was quickly pressed into his hand.

"Hello?" he remembered asking uncertainly.

"What do you know about this, young man?" a voice boomed. "Tell me immediately, we don't have anytime for games."

That was when things became unclear, and Luke had to depend on the three closest to him to fill in the blanks. Although he'd recognised the speaker as Lorelai's father, he had no idea how to respond and the words hurled at him through the phone made no sense.

Luke had trouble keeping up, but eventually pieced together the message; Lorelai and Rory were missing, there was a note but Richard didn't believe it to be genuine and suspected that Luke knew what was really going on.

"I'll be right there," he replied, the only thing he could think to say before hanging up as Richard began another tirade.

"What the hell was all that about?" William Danes demanded, staring at his son just as Luke's best friend came through the door.

Before Sookie St. James had a chance to say a word, Luke crossed the room, grabbed her arm and pulled her back outside.

She asked many questions during the drive, starting with "Where are we going?" But when she noticed the houses getting bigger and fancier she quickly switched to "What happened to Lorelai?"

Luke was unable to explain anything though. Even if he had known, he wasn't sure he'd be able to explain properly, so instead he just drove until they reached their destination.

Sookie was a mess by the time they arrived, thanks to Luke's silence and the police car outside didn't help either of them. Luke felt the bottom of his stomach drop out as he made his way towards the house. Confused or not, he knew that no good news would greet them once they were inside.

* * *

_I'm sorry, I don't belong here, I'm going somewhere else, I'll call you when I get there. We'll be fine. Love, Lorelai and Rory._

The words just kept repeating through his mind, for hours on end. _I don't belong here, I'm going somewhere else. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm going somewhere else._

_Where the hell had she gone?_

Luke couldn't understand it, he could barely remember anything that happened – all that really stood out was the look in Richard's eyes when he realized his prime suspects really didn't know anything. And Sookie dissolving into tears.

Everything else was just a complete blur. When he finally returned home, Luke had no idea how he'd gotten there.

Later, when things calmed down, to some degree, his dad and sister filled in the gaps the best they could, but still, he couldn't make any sense of things and there were parts he wouldn't recall for years.

All he knew for certain was that he'd argued with Lorelai the night before, and now, both she and Rory were gone, with no word of when or if they would ever return.

* * *

Ok, so, I'm sorry this one took so long, it's been ready for days, but I forgot about it while trying to work out the next installment. The next one totally sucks. Also, I realize there are some problems with the timeline, Ive tried to fix everything and make it all connect, but I can't seem to get it all. Sorry about that, hope it's not too confusing. Thoughts?


	3. 1990

He attended his first funeral when he was fifteen.

His mother's.

Then on a dark and cold November day five years afterward Liz and Luke Danes returned to the cemetery to lay their father to rest.

The great William Danes had never fully recovered from the sudden death of his wife, and seemed to diminish each passing year, until finally, one morning he just didn't wake up.

Luke tore his eyes from the gaping hole in the ground that the coffin had just been lowered into. _The coffin, with Dad inside._ He looked out over the mourners gathered there to say goodbye and flashed back to a similar scene five years earlier.

_He and Liz stood on either side of their father, and it was almost as if the three of them where keeping each other standing. Their closest friends weren't far away; clustered together at the front of the crowd gathered to farewell Anne Danes, Mia sat with Buddy, Maisy, Lorelai, Sookie and Jimmy; Lorelai and Jimmy each holding onto an unusually calm and quiet child._

_Just five months old they were generally happy, noisy babies, constantly blowing raspberries and making high-pitched squeal like noises whenever their favourite person entered the room. (To the surprise of some, that happened to be Luke at the time.) Jess had just started teething though, which made him a little grisly from time to time._

_On that particular day however, both he and Rory seemed to sense that it wasn't the time for laughter or much noise at all, it wasn't a day where people were going to be focused on them, and they just allowed their parents to hold them, drawing on their strength._

_After the service everyone made their way back to the Danes' house for the wake, where they all sat and stood around for hours, reminiscing about what a great friend/colleague/mother/person Anne Danes had been._

_William looked like a mere shell of himself, to begin with, by the end of the day he looked so weak and hollow sitting in his easy-chair, watching all that was going on, yet not seeming to see any of it. Luke remembered being amazed that he was able to stand at the graveside. Not that he'd done a fantastic job of that._

_But when it came time to wrap things up, Mia and Maisy took control, herded people out the doo sending them on their way to their own homes._

_In the week between Anne's stroke and the service, William had barely uttered a word; it was so out of the blue. She was the picture of health and no one had seen it coming_

_It seemed the only time the man was himself was when he had one or both of the babies with him; Jess and Rory were a great help to everyone during that terrible time._

_But they can't help this time, _Luke thought to himself, his eyes sweeping the crowd. _At least, Rory can't_. He gave up searching, realising that they definitely hadn't shown up, and squeezed Liz's hand when she stepped a little closer to him.

Almost every single person who had attended their mother's funeral was there today, all except two of the eldest residents of Stars Hollow who had passed in the preceding years.

And the two who had left town just a year after that first death.

As the service came to an end and the reverend announced the details of the wake, Luke found himself watching his nephew.

Jess had been surprisingly strong in the past few days, considering his age and the close bond he shared with his grandfather.

During the service he had sat with his father for the most part, and now moved to his mother's side, to take her hand. She kneeled down to wipe a tear from his face, saying something to him that made her smile through her own tears before hugging him tightly and then straightening up and allowing the boy's father to lead her towards the car.

Luke knew that they would all return to the house, just like they had the last time.

But this time William wouldn't be there.

This was why he hung back, stood beside the new headstone and disrupted earth, watching all the others drive away. Liz paused for a moment before getting into the car, and Jimmy looked as if he was about to return, but then he too climbed into the car and drove away.

There were times that he still expected to see his mother come in from the kitchen with a plate of cookies, or calling out for Liz to come and pick up Jess' toys. Even after all these years, he could still hear her voice and smell her perfume around the house, as if she'd just stepped out of the room. He imagined now the same thing would happen with regards to his dad.

Returning to work in the hardware store would be one of the hardest things, he realised. That had been his father's domain, and now it just… wasn't.

Forcing himself to realise they weren't coming, that no one was coming, and everyone was gone, Luke pushed away from his parent's final resting places and headed for his truck to complete the short drive home.

Somehow, though, he didn't take the usual, most direct route, but instead, found himself stopping out the front of Mrs. Thompson's and unlocking her garage with the spare key she had given his father years earlier, when he started to build a boat and needed somewhere to store it.

He stood for a long time in the door way, just looking at the incomplete structure that had lain abandoned for years now, before finally stepping inside. He couldn't touch it – it was almost as if there was an invisible barrier around the vessel – even with his hand extended, he couldn't manage to touch it to the frame.

Glancing around at the few tools that had been left behind, gathering dust, Luke made up his mind and walked out the door, locking it once more before driving to the house.

"I want to sell it," was the first thing he said to his sister once he tracked her down at home. She sat on the couch with some friends from school, each of them nursing a coffee cup and talking softly. "We should sell the boat and use the money so that it's finally doing something useful."

She managed to talk him out of calling Mrs. Thompson, by claiming it was her turn to take some of the load he'd been carrying in the last few days and convinced him to finally eat something.

With the boat taken care of and nothing else to worry about except how their lives would ever be normal again, Luke realised that it had been a sign.

He hated 'signs' and the people that went on and on about them, but he had to face it.

She hadn't come, she hadn't even called.

In the three weeks since his father's funeral there had been no word, no mention of them, _her,_ nothing.

And so he knew.

Lorelai would not be coming back. Not now, not ever. Because if there were ever a time for her return now would have been it, and he was sure she knew, she was in contact with Sookie, she had to know. Luke knew it wouldn't happen though, so he pushed his thoughts of her away, to the very back of his mind to deal with some other time.


End file.
